CFCL Enters Manufacturing MOU

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited signs Manufacturing Services MoU

with global electronics manufacturer

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM / ASX: CFU) a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission power products for homes and other buildings, has signed a Manufacturing Services Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jabil Circuit Inc (NYSE: JBL).

Under the MoU, CFCL and Jabil will work together towards scaling up the manufacturing of CFCL's Gennex fuel cell module and award winning BlueGen electricity generation product.

Jabil is a global Electronic Manufacturing Service provider with 55 factories in 22 countries and annual revenue of USD 16 billion. Jabil's global cleantech business unit makes a range of energy products including solar panels, smartgrid meters and wind turbines.

CFCL and Jabil will work together to increase CFCL's manufacturing volumes and reduce unit costs quickly, whilst maintaining consistent quality and security of supply.

Jabil's manufacturing services to CFCL are expected to grow over time to match CFCL's increasing sales volumes. The details of the particular services in each phase will be set out in a formal supply agreement to be signed at the time.

The first phase of co-operation is for CFCL to source selected components from Jabil's manufacturing operations. This phase is expected to begin in early 2012. The second phase is for CFCL to source major sub-assemblies from Jabil. The final phase is for Jabil to assemble finished products as a contract manufacturer for CFCL.

CFCL has built and is operating a volume manufacturing plant in Germany, where CFCL makes fuel cell stacks and assembles complete Gennex fuel cell modules and BlueGen products.

This co-operation with Jabil complements CFCL's initial manufacturing capacity. CFCL will retain control of fuel cell stack manufacturing and all related intellectual property into the future, whilst progressively outsourcing the manufacturing and supply of components, sub-assemblies and ultimately the mass manufactured BlueGen product.

Working with Jabil will allow CFCL to benefit from Jabil's expertise and scale in contract manufacturing and global supply chain management, in order to further increase CFCL's volumes and rapidly drive down unit costs.

Brendan Dow, Managing Director of Ceramic Fuel Cells, said: "Over the past year our order book has grown from 50 units to 500 units and we need to plan ahead for much larger volumes in the coming years. Working with an expert contract manufacturer will help us to increase our volumes and reduce our unit costs much faster than trying to do it all ourselves."

Outsourced Electronic Manufacturing Services have grown substantially in the past 20 years and has been a key driver in expanding the volumes and reducing the costs of consumer and household electronic items. This outsourced model is now being adopted in other industries such as clean energy technologies.

For further information please contact:

About Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited:

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited is a world leader in developing fuel cell technology to generate highly efficient and low-emission electricity from widely available natural gas.

Ceramic Fuel Cells has sold more than 300 BlueGen gas-to-electricity generators to major utilities and other foundation customers in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Australia and the USA. Ceramic Fuel Cells is also developing fully integrated power and heating products with leading energy companies E.ON UK in the United Kingdom, GdF Suez in France and EWE in Germany.

Ceramic Fuel Cells recently won the 2010-11 DuPont Design for a Sustainable Future innovation award and the Microgeneration UK 2011 Technical Innovation Award. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market and the Australian Securities Exchange (code CFU).

Register to receive email alerts of CFCL announcements and industry news, at www.cfcl.com.au/register 

About Jabil:

Jabil is an electronic product solutions company providing comprehensive electronics design, manufacturing and product management services to global electronics and technology companies. Offering complete product supply chain management from facilities in 25 countries, Jabil provides comprehensive, individualized-focused solutions to customers in a broad range of industries. Jabil employs 100,000 staff around the world and in fiscal 2011 generated revenue of USD 16.5 billion.

Jabil common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol, "JBL".

Further information is available on Jabil's website: www.jabil.com.